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Chic on the Cheap: Vintage Fork Napkin Rings

Monday, November 22, 2010

With all the travel and holiday talk around here, a diy project has been long overdue. It’s a simple but good one because its relatively easy and (if you have the tools) cheap. Thankfully, I had the husband's brute strength to take care of all the hard bits.

More than a year ago, I picked up a little collection of vintage spoons and forks for a few bucks at a junks store. My plan was to make one of those cutlery chandeliers but that never quite worked out. So that flatware was staring me in the face, daring me to do something with them. It took me long enough but I finally came up with the idea to repurpose them into napkin rings.

Materials needed: Old forks, metal stamp set, (I have this one but it doesn't seem to be sold anymore so I imagine this one would also work.), vice, small section of galvanized pipe, vice grips, rubber mallet, sharpie marker, nail polish remover.

I should mention at this point that the cutlery I was using was quite heavy so it made this project more difficult than it had to be. If I were to buy more with this project in mind, I'd pick a lighter weight version. Also, if you have a proper workbench with a vice screwed into it (as opposed to the jimmy rig concoction we were using), this would be even easier. We made do with what we had.

It took some trial and error before we figured out the best way to get this accomplished. First things first, imprint the forks while they are still in their original shape.

Originally I wanted to stamp in the word for 'eat' in all different languages. Mr. L was wise enough to point out that managing to get 3 letters per fork in somewhat decent shape was going to be hard enough. Ok, point to him.

As you can see in the photos, this is a three handed job. I imagine there are better ways of doing this but we couldn't figure it out. Hand stampers - do you have any tips?

So now its time for the real hard work - bending the spoon into a ring. Holding a length of 2 inch pipe in the vice, bang the spoon against it with a rubber mallet until its in a semi - ring shape. We couldn't get them into perfect circles this way but that didn't really matter. As long is it held the napkin, I was happy.

Bang Bang Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. You get the idea. You'll want to start with the end of the fork so that you can turn it without hitting the tines.

At this point they are functional but the imprint is a bit hard to read. Enter a sharpie marker. Have a little cotton ball with some acetone on it standing by. Rub the imprint with the sharpie, let sit for a minute and carefully wipe the excess away with the acetone. This takes a bit of a finesse to get the ink off the face of the fork without removing it from the letter grooves but eventually I mastered it.

The ones on the left are about to be sharpied, the two at the right already got their treatment. Makes quite a difference.

After that was all done, I had 12 lovely vintage forks turned napkin rings. Or as Mr. Limestone calls them, Frings.

Next step is to have a matching set of 12 napkins and Ill feel much more like a grown up.

The vice that she mentioned I bought one from Harbor Freight Tools years ago still have it. Mine isn't real big sits on my work bench in our garage. You could maybe order one but they are heavy and the SH charges might be high. The vice itself wasn't that expensive. Check your Home Depot,,Lowes,,etc.

They look great.Well done. I live in Sheffield UK and we have a shop here( Don Alexander) that stocks all things made in Sheffield including things made with cutlery such as bangles and coat hooks. Sadly the website dosen't feature them They look very much like the napkin rings you made.ZoeB

LOVE it!! I actually have some vintage silver (!) forks and such, but they are for a jewelry project. I'm 23, and my dining table seats 2 and wobbles. I'm not yet at the stage of life that calls for place settings or sit-down dinners. But that doesn't mean I won't be bookmarking this for someday!

Hello, nice project.Just to "up" your level a little, to make the imprint stand out the traditional silversmithing way, what you use is a mixture of sulfer and vaseline (to make it a paste). Put the paste in/over the imprint making sure it enters the cracks. Wipe off the surface without wiping off the inside (so as to limite the cleanup afterwards). Let sit under a lightbulb to slightly heat up the mixture/surface. You'll see the imprint darken. When it reaches desired darkness, wash clean. If you need to clean up any surfaces, use a polishing cloth with some kind of polishing paste (might be optional).

You asked for a little help about stamping, so here's a something that should help you, first take your fork and lay it on edge on a 2 by 4 and draw a line along the edge of the fork, next if you have a scroll saw or band saw cut along the line, now you have a stampingjig you can use, one part for stamping the top and another for stamping the bottom.

I used a small screw and a piece of wood scrap I put the screw between the tines tighten the screw stamp loosen screw remove fork and put in the next one retighten. A spoon requires 2 screws place in the narrow area where the bowl and handle join tighten stamp and release

use a small screw and a piece of scrap wood place between the tines of the fork tighten screw stamp then loosen a bit remove fork insert next fork stamp ect. a spoon takes 2 screws one on either side of the spoon place at the spot where the bowl and handle narrow, tighten screws stamp and proceed to next spoon good luck and have fun

here is what I do...place a piece of felt over an anvil or railroad tie (flat top necessary obviously). Lay utensil atop that. Lay a strip of duct tape across the utensil, affixing firmly to the sides of the anvil for best stability. When done stamping, lift one side of tape for free utensil, then set the next. each piece of duct tape will last long enough to do several pieces until it is no longer sticky enough. Also...my husband gave me his dead blow hammer to reduce the rebound and stress to your arm.